Podcasts

Yellow Fever follows young Navajo veteran, Tina Garnanez on her journey to investigate the history of the Navajo Uranium Boom, its lasting impacts in her area and the potential new mining in her region. She begins as a curious family member and becomes an advocate, lobbyist, activist and vocal proponent for transparency and environmental justice. Tina travels throughout the West to learn about uranium mining and nuclear development. Read More... about Tina Garnanez

Filmmaker Lukas Korver teamed up with Jason Halpin on their documentary debut, The Medicine Game. The Medicine Game follows two young brothers from the Onondaga Nation, who dream of playing lacrosse for Syracuse University. The Medicine Game was the most watched video on the day it was released on PBS Video. Georgiana Lee, the Assistant Director of Vision Maker Media, spoke with Korver and Halpin as well as one of the brothers, Jerome (Hiana) Thompson. Read More... about The Medicine Game

Beginning with the Seattle Indian Center (1972) as a peer counselor; to Cultural Education Coordinator (1973-1975) for United Indians of All Tribes Foundation, Seattle. At UIATF, he visioned and produced the 1st American Indian Film Festival, March 1975 at the University of Washington. Later the film festival was sponsored by the San Francisco Indian Center (1977-1978) and National Congress of American Indians (1979) where Michael served in public relations capacities. Read More... about Michael Smith

Vision Maker Media is proud to announce Alison Lotto as its newest staff member. Lotto has accepted the position of archives specialist for Vision Maker Media. Alison's position is located at Vision Maker Media's offices at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln alongside Nebraska Educational Telecommunications (NET).

Recently, Vision Maker Media executive director Shirley Sneve (Lakota) caught up with Sydney Freeland (Navajo) after a screening of her movie Drunktown's Finest at imagineNATIVE. The two talked about the representation of Native Americans in film, the struggles and rewards of being a filmmaker, and how Sydney got to where she is now. Read More... about Sydney Freeland

Keeler was raised in California and moved to Omaha, Neb., to obtain her Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from Creighton University where she served as a student-body advisor working with the University's board of directors. She continued to hone her journalistic skills through various training opportunities while attending graduate school at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), earning her Master of Arts degree in Journalism in May 2014. Read More... about Khloe Keeler

Frank Waln (Sicangu Lakota) is an artist and producer from the Rosebud Sioux Reservation. After graduating valedictorian at his high school and starting college as a pre-medical student at Creighton University through the prestigious Gates Millennium Scholarship, he recently graduated from Colombia College Chicago to pursue his dream in music. As a member of the Native American band, Nake Nula Waun, he became the youngest person ever in 2010 to win the Native American Music Award for Best Producer. Read More... about Frank Waln

Penelope Phillips is a filmmaker from in Northern California. Recently retired after working in broadcast news for 26 years, Phillips is now taking on her passion of producing documentaries. With a major interest in Native art, Phillips is preparing to release her newest film, Spirit in Glass. Read More... about Penelope Phillips

Charles "Boots" Kennedye is a member of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma and a documentary producer at OETA (Oklahoma Educational Television Authority). He's been at the helm of projects such as Oklahoma World War II Stories, The State of Sequoyah and worked with Rocky Mountain PBS in 2011 on Urban Rez. Read More... about Charles "Boots" Kennedye

“The early bird gets the worm,” my dad would always say. He is notorious for waking up between four and four-thirty in the morning. In those early dark hours, you can hear his steps, the smell of coffee brewing, and the sound of newspaper pages turning. I’m not going to lie. I was incredibly annoyed by this, much like the rest of my siblings. Admittedly, I took a lot of my parents’ teachings for granted at an early age. Today, I have a deep appreciation for my dad and the lessons he offers. Read More... about A Blessing of Extraordinary Proportions